Prologue
January 9th, 2077, 22:00 Somewhere over Zebrica.
The steady drone of eight turboprop engines cut through the cold night air as four Vertibucks in a tight ‘V’ formation crossed over into Zebra airspace. They bore the markings of the Equestrian Air Force, the EAF.
Inside each of the Vertibucks, eight pegasus jump troopers, also known as PJs for short, lined the sides of the cargo bay, four on each side, while the pilot and the co-pilot stood up front.
Both the pilot and co-pilot stood in front of a control panel displaying all the information needed to fly the Vertibuck, as well as weapon controls and various other knobs and switches. They were secured by a harness consisting of two straps, one strap running over their shoulders and down to the floor, and the second running over their chest and straight back to a firewall right behind them.
Inside the lead Vertibuck, the pilot was a dark teal stallion, with a dark red mane and moustache. He sported a pair of mirrored Aviator sunglasses, covering his blue eyes. His cutie mark was a red star with two white wings on either side of it. His co-pilot was a young yellow coated mare with a long brown mane and green eyes. Her cutie mark was a golden shooting star. Both of them wore black EAF pilots barding and a helmet with a microphone, and the stallion had a large .357 Magnum revolver tucked into a holster on the side of the barding. The unit patch sewn onto their uniforms was a shield with a Vertibuck rotor on it that read ‘Steel Wings’ across the top, and ‘109th Vertibuck Squadron’ along the bottom. According to the rank patches they also wore, the pilot was a Sergeant, while his co-pilot was a Private.
The stallion spoke into the mic on his helmet. “We are crossing into Zebra airspace now. Keep it dark until we’re back in our airspace, Swept Wing out.”
The four Vertibucks flew further into Zebra territory, avoiding sporadic anti-aircraft fire from scattered Zebra AA guns until they were within a few klicks of their target. They dropped altitude until they were skimming along only a mere 50 feet or so from the Zebra badlands, the lights of a compound approaching in the distance.
Swept Wing glanced back at the eight jump troopers in the back. “Get ready to jump back there, the target is in sight.” He said, nodding to his co-pilot.
“Opening rear door!” She yelled, hitting a button with a hoof.
The back door of the Vertibuck lowered down into a ramp, the ground whipping by below. A red light came on above it, and the jump troopers got up and lined up by the ramp.
The four Vertibucks shot towards the compound at top speed, and as they closed in the sky around them was suddenly filled with the bright streaks of tracer fire.
“Here we go, 30 seconds till jump!” Swept Wing yelled, a few of the tracer rounds pinging off the armored sides of the Vertibuck. “It’s going to be hot going in too, I’ll see if I can stick around for a minute and give some supporting fire.”
As the flight of Vertibucks roared over the compound, the light above the ramp turned green and the jump troopers bailed out the back of each of the Vertibucks, down into the compound below.
Swept Wing threw his Vertibuck into a hard banking turn as soon as they were away, bringing the twin .50 caliber machine guns mounted on either side of the cockpit and the gatling laser mounted underneath it to bear, strafing the compound.
The Zebra guns returned fire as Swept Wing made his strafing run, several 20mm rounds slamming straight through the plexiglass windshield of the Vertibuck.
Swept Wing yanked the Vertibuck up and away from the compound as he heard his co-pilot shriek in pain, climbing rapidly away from the compound. He looked over at his co-pilot, his eyes widening at her state.
She had been hit by two of the 20mm rounds. She had taken one of the rounds to her right foreleg, severing it halfway between her shoulder and her knee, and the other round had gone straight through her barding and clean through her shoulder, impacting into the firewall behind her. There was blood everywhere.
“Oh sweet Celestia.” Swept Wing muttered before speaking quickly into his mic. “My co-pilot is hurt bad. I’m heading back to base, see you bucks back in Seaddle.” He said, flipping on the Vertibuck’s autopilot before unstrapping himself. “Hang in there rookie, I’ll get you back.”
He carefully unstrapped her, laying her on the floor behind the firewall before trotting back into the cargo bay, pulling the first aid kit off of the wall and trotting back to her. Kneeling down next to her, he flipped it open and pulled out a tourniquet, wrapping it tightly around the bloody stump that had once been her leg until the blood stopped pouring out of the wound. He then pulled out a couple of healing potions, pouring them directly into the wound on her shoulder, wrapping it tightly in bandages as it began to heal. He pulled out a couple blood packs next, starting an IV in her leg. “Come on rookie, stay with me!”
She gave a quiet moan of pain, on the brink of passing out from blood loss. “D-don’t know, if, if I’m gonna make it Sarge.” She said quietly. “My leg still there?”
“Kind of, but I’m sure the docs will give you one of those fancy cybernetic ones.” Swept Wing replied. “Just hang in there, okay?”
The co-pilot nodded, and Swept Wing got back up, heading back to his station and strapping back in just as they exited Zebra airspace. He took off the autopilot, and turned the Vertibuck northwest, towards Seaddle. “Oh boy, I sure hope those PJs get something out of this raid.” He muttered, glancing back once more at his co-pilot. “Just hang in there rookie, we’re almost home.”